pbatt



H. D. J. PRATT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MACHINE FOR PLANING OR SHAVING- ICE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,052, dated May 17, 1859.

To all whom t may concern:

yBe it known that I, H. D. J. PRATT, o

the city of Washington and District of C0- lumbia, have invented an improved instrument for shaving, pulverizing, or reducing ice to a state of more or less minute subdivision, so that it may be ready for use in the rapid refrigeration of soda-water and other beverages and for application to medical or other purposes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the implement complete; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal Vertical, central section of the same, and Fig. 3, a side elevation of the circular disk or cutter stock.

The method now most commonly employed for the reduction of ice for the purposes above suggested, is that of shaving it by means of a stationary plane, the lumps of ice being held in the hand and drawn over the edge of the plane, the shavings :talling through a slot in the plane stock into a receptacle below. This method is objectionable on account of the necessity for handling the ice. The same objection applies to the more primitive method still practiced, of holding the ice in the hand and breaking it with a mallet or pick.

My invention provides a remedy for the inconveniences of the common method by furnishing an implement by which the operation is conveniently, rapidly and perfectly performed without the necessity for touching the ice, as will more fully appear from the subjoined description.

In the drawings, the same letter, wherever it occurs, marks the same part.

A marks the sides of an irregularly shaped box or hopper, open at top and back, having an inclined floor, and a funnel shaped opening in the front part of the bottom as clearly shown in Fig. 2; B, the presser which forces the ice up to the cutters. This presser may either be hinged to one point on the hopper as shown, or may have pins projecting from its upperv corners which may be received into any one of a series of pairs of grooves or notches in the upper edge of the hopper, so that the position of the presser may be adjusted to the size of the piece of ice to be operated upon.

C marks the handle of the presser; D the circular disk or cutter stock. This disk has slots through it one edge of which is beveled for the reception of the cutters. E the planes or cutters, of which any desired number may be inserted in the disk. They are firmly screwed to the beveled sides of the slots in disk D, sufficient space being left between the blade and the side of the slot for the passage of the pulverized ice into the funnel shaped part of the hopper.

F is a handle attached to cog-wheel G, and by means of which said wheel is turned.

H is a pinion on the end of shaft I to the other end of which the cutter stock D is attached. j

K is a bracket forming the journal boxes of wheel G and pinion H.

L represents the lump of ice to be pul- Verized.

The cutters are made adjustable by means of slots and set screws, in the well known mode, for the purpose of regulating the degree of iineness with which the ice is to be cut.

The operation of the implement is as follows: Theice L having been placed in the box, is held in contact with disk D, by means of the presser B operated by means of its handle C. The disk vis rotated by turning wheel G by means of the handle F, which imparts rapid rotation to the pinion H on the end of the cutter shaft I, and hence to that shaft" and the disk D on its inner end. As the disk D revolves the cutters E, which project through it any required distance, act upon the ice and rapidly reduce it to the required degree of subdivision, the neness de-r pending on the set of the cutters. The di- Y vided ice falls through the funnel of the hopper into a drawer, or other convenient receptacle below. The 'loor of the hopper is inclined, as shown in Fig. 2, for the purpose of coperating with the presser in bringing the ice to bear upon the cutter disk as the operation proceeds. The presser may be kept against the ice, without the aid of the operator, by means of a spring, or by a weight attached to the handle F.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The machine or implement for cutting or Y reducing ice to small particles hereinbefore described, the same consisting ofA the ar'- rangement in a hopper of suitable size and shape, of rotating cutters with or Without i" The above specification signed and Witnessed this fifth day of April A. D; 1859.

i H. D. J. PRATT.

Witnesses:

EDW. F. BROWN, CHAS. F. STANSBURY. 

